2013/2014 Season

Welcome!

I’ve been very lucky to find a home in the theater and invite you to do the same. There is no question that Arena has soared since opening our beautiful new center five years ago. No question that the work on stage has been powerful, engaging and full of the passionate exploration we expect from the best of our theater artists. I invite you to join us. Subscribe today with a package that suits you. You’ll enjoy exclusive benefits, the best seats at the best price, and the security of knowing your entertainment calendar is set to soar with Arena Stage.

Add-on shows

On a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, two baby girls are born — one into a life of privilege and one into a life of poverty. When the newborns are swapped by a former beauty queen with an insatiable lust for power, the stage is set for two outrageous misfortunes to grow into one remarkable destiny. “A writer of comedic skill” (Variety), Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright Karen Zacarías (The Book Club Play) infuses the Latin American telenovela genre with music, high drama and burning passion to make for a fast-paced modern comedy. View details

Music, Lyrics and Book by Lionel Bart
Directed by Molly Smith
Fichandler Stage
October 30, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Consider yourself invited to the theatrical event of the holiday season. Charles Dickens’ unforgettable characters burst to life in this classic Tony Award-winning musical about an innocent orphan thrown into the dark world of double-dealing thieves and con men of 19th-century London. Bursting with jubilant songs, including “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two,” “Consider Yourself,” “Where is Love?” and the scrumptious “Food, Glorious Food,” director Molly Smith (Fiddler on theRoof, Oklahoma!) will serve up a musical feast for the eyes and ears that will have every theater-lover calling out for “More!” View details

Adapted for the Stage by Cheryl L. West
Based on the Original Screenplay by Doug Atchison
Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
Kreeger Theater
November 13 – December 27, 2015

Based on the beloved film, Akeelah and the Bee tells the story of an independent 11-year-old from the Chicago projects whose razor-sharp mind keeps herone step ahead of the game in the neighborhood … but is it enough to get herto the top? Akeelah must turn to family, friends and a few unlikely mentors if she’s going to survive the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Playwright Cheryl L. West (Pullman Porter Blues) and director Charles Randolph-Wright (Ruined) bring this spirited adaptation to life this holiday season. View details

A group of close friends shares everything: drinks, secrets and laughs. But when rumors of layoffs shake up the local steel mill, the fragile bonds of their community begin to fray and a horrific crime sends shock waves across two generations. This gripping world premiere by acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined) explores America’s industrial decline at the turn of the millennium by examining the inhabitants of one Pennsylvania town who still struggle to reclaim what’s lost, find redemption and redefine themselves in a new century. Co-commissioned with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. View details

By Anthony Giardina
Fichandler Stage
January 29 – March 6, 2016

Georgetown hostess Hester Ferris runs in an elite circle, opening her home for political foes to lay down arms and raise a glass. When her son’s formidable, conservative wife comes on the scene, the parlor pleasantries of D.C.’s past descend into entrenched posturing and an ultimatum that could implode the family. Follow the Ferris clan from the end of Carter’s presidency through the Reagan era and into Obama’s game-changing inauguration in this “smart, literate and funny” (The NewYork Times) inside look at the theater of politics and the politics of conversation. View details

Written and Performed by Benjamin Scheuer
Directed by Sean Daniels
Presented in association with Eva Price
Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle
February 26 – April 10, 2016

Some stories have to be sung. Writer/performer Benjamin Scheuer uses his guitar — actually, six guitars — in this wholly-original musical experience that tells a coming-of-age story that “lifts the spirit” (Time Out New York). The award-winning songwriter inspires and disarms with his raw wit and emotional depth as he leads you on a rock ‘n’ roll journey from boyhood to manhood, through pain and healing, to discover the redemptive power of music. Don’t miss the show New YorkDaily News calls “an irresistible winner.” Much like its hero, The Lion roars. View details

By Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Kyle Donnelly
Fichandler Stage
April 1 – May 8, 2016

It’s not personal, it’s politics in this 2014 Tony Award-winning drama. President Lyndon Baines Johnson had a way about him. He could massage a victory with one hand and sell you down the river with the other, but brokering a deal is like playing with dynamite. With the country still reeling from President Kennedy’s assassination, and a rising tide of bitterness over Civil Rights, it’ll take more than politicking to hold America together — it’ll take red, white and blue-blooded leadership. Go all the way with LBJ, Martin Luther King, J. Edgar Hoover and more in this “beautifully built dramatic piece” (Variety) where the line between compromise and compromising your principles is as sharp as a knife. View details

From Ayad Akhtar comes this “breathtaking, raw and blistering” (AP), Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the clash between modern culture and ancient faiths. The son of South Asian immigrants, Amir has worked hard to achieve the American Dream — complete with a successful career, a beautiful wife and $600 custom-tailored shirts. But has he removed himself too far from his roots? And when a friendly dinner party
conversation rockets out of control, will the internal battle between his culture and his identity raze all that he’s worked so hard to achieve? Hailed as “terrific, turbulent, with fresh currents of dramatic electricity” (The New York Times), this incendiary examination of one’s self and one’s beliefs will leave you breathless. View details

Special Add-on Events

A letter, a lie, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen (Pitch Perfect’s Ben Platt) is about to get everything he’s ever wanted: the girl of his dreams, the perfect family he’s always longed for and a chance to finally fit in. He just has to hope that his chance to connect isn’t blown by the secrets he has to conceal. Featuring a score by Tony Award nominees Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (A Christmas Story, Dogfight), a book by Steven Levenson (Masters of Sex) and directed by three time Tony nominee Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal), Dear Evan Hansen is a moving and original musical about more than how we share, like or friend; it’s about how we love, feel and survive in the modern world. View details

By Allison Engel and Margaret Engel
Directed by David Esbjornson
Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle
October 9 – November 8, 2015

From the writers of the smash hit Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit ofMolly Ivins comes a look at one of our country’s most beloved voices, who captured the frustrations of her generation by asking, “If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits?” Discover the story behind the award-winning humorist who championed women’s lives with wit that sprang from the most unexpected place of all — the truth. Part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. View details